Pawlu Mizzi’s Jien Kif Ġie Ġie challenges traditional portraiture through a digital deconstruction of self, blending Cubist influences with the evolving nature of identity in the social media era. Highlighted by Dr. Vince Briffa as an intriguing artwork intended for a Facebook profile picture, this pioneering piece, created in 2011, remains a profound commentary on the intersection of technology, art, and personal representation.
Jien Kif Ġie Ġie (Me, at random) is an artwork intended as a Facebook profile picture – it interrogates the self through the lens of digital dislocation, presenting a jigsawed portrait that reflects both the fragmentation of identity and the subtle violence of self-curation in the digital age. The portrait’s deconstructed form echoes both the fragmented nature of digital identities and the Cubist tradition pioneered by Picasso and Braque, where the subject is reimagined through multiple, disjointed perspectives. By fracturing his own image into precise, deliberate parts, Mizzi challenges the notion of the singular, unbroken self, a concept historically anchored in traditional portraiture.
Visually, the work’s halftone pattern reinforces this sense of fragmentation. It draws upon the graphic qualities of mid-20th-century print media, embedding the image in a visual language that bridges analogue nostalgia with the immediacy of digital tools. The halftone treatment simultaneously deconstructs the image into dots and unifies it when viewed at a distance, mirroring the dual experience of identity in the digital age – an intricate composite that shifts between clarity and obscurity depending on one’s perspective. Mizzi creates a tension between permanence and ephemerality, tradition and modernity by presenting a balance that mirrors the very nature of social media, where images are endlessly curated, shared, and consumed.
What makes this work particularly significant is its timing. Created and uploaded in early 2011, it predates the widespread critical reflection on social media’s role in shaping identity and artistic practice. Facebook, at the time, was in its ascendance as a platform for self-representation, yet few considered the artistic possibilities within such a space. Mizzi’s work anticipated the current moment, when digital platforms are acknowledged as legitimate arenas for contemporary art. Today, in an era of NFTs, virtual galleries, and AI-driven visual production, Jien Kif Ġie Ġie feels prophetic, reminding us that art can emerge even in the most ordinary of digital interactions.
The work’s inclusion in The National Portrait Gallery of Malta (ISBN 9-789995-737122) published by Nicholas De Piro in 2015, further solidifies its place in Maltese cultural history, transforming a personal, self-reflective act into a public statement. At its core, Jien Kif Ġie Ġie is both intimate and universal, asking how we construct and deconstruct identity, how we see ourselves, and how we allow ourselves to be seen. Mizzi’s fragmented self-portrait remains both an artefact of its time and a timeless reflection on the evolving relationship between technology, art, and identity.
